"You know, some guys don't play before The Open. Some guys go fishing; some guys like to play," Scotland's Stephen Gallacher said.

"The last two Open champions have played here, so it's almost like if you want to get in the Open, you need to play here ... if you want to win it, anyway."

The last two British Open champions, Ernie Els and Darren Clarke, are part of a strong field in the European Tour's final tuneup before next week's Open Championship.

"I believe in being competitive before a major," two-time British Open champion (2007, 2008) Padraig Harrington said Tuesday. "That's certainly what helped me win my three majors. (He also won the 2008 PGA Championship.) There's no doubt you've got to get out there with a card in your hand and iron out any kind of mental routine flaws."

Harrington also appreciates the chance to reacquaint himself with links golf.

"You have to make sure you're on a similar golf course (to the major venue)," he said. "Even though I know how to play the shots and what shots are to be played, you've got to trust it."

And that comes, Harrington says, from playing the shots in a competitive situation.

Controlled trajectories to keep the ball out of expected winds, putting from various places — not necessarily on the green — and remembering how to play out of deep pot bunkers and tall grass.

"It's very important," Matteo Manassero, 20, said of playing on a seaside links course the week before the Open. "You can kind of train the mental attitude.

"You've got different ways to put the ball close on links golf, high, low and running to the pin. So there are many different ways to play. It's just a matter of figuring out which one is the right one in the right moment and then do it."

Els and Phil Mickelson, coming off a missed cut last weekend in the Greenbrier Classic and a heartbreaking runner-up finish last month in the U.S. Open, agreed there was a need to prepare on a links course.

"Playing Castle Stuart gives me a great opportunity to be competitive against a world-class field on a links course the week before the Open," Mickelson said.

Mickleson has struggled in the past at mastering links golf, but he thinks his game is where it needs to be.

"Because I've been putting so well, I'm really looking forward to the challenge," he said. "I mean, I think that I'm optimistic it could be a little different."

Els, the defending British Open champion, tuned up at this event last year on the way to his second Open championship.

"I have very fond memories of my two wins in the Scottish Open, and if I can win it a third time, it would be the perfect platform for my defense of the Open," he said. "The Scottish galleries are very knowledgeable. They really know their golf, so if we can get some decent weather we should be in for another great week."

The players in the field found themselves defending 7,193-yard Castle Stuart, the target of criticism from Graeme McDowell, who is not playing this week.

"The Scottish Open has lost its identity and its prestige. Castle Stuart probably has not been a strong enough golf course," McDowell told The Scottish Sun. "Let's see them get the Scottish Open on a phenomenal links golf course with a great purse and get a world-class field back."

Harrington was among those who dismissed the criticism. "It's a great warm-up for next week, yes, but in its own right it's a great tournament."

Gallacher seconded that. "Graeme is entitled to his opinion, and I think it's a great field and a great track, so I can't wait for it," he said.